Song #241: "Conga"--Miami Sound Machine (1985)

It's late 1985, my life has been thrown completely upside down, it's a time of massive change.

In the midst of my first semester of my freshman year of college, 500 miles from home, onto the radio came the first hit for Miami Sound Machine, who, of course, would launch Gloria Estefan into the limelight.

And, at a time where we had radio playlists overrun with soundalike synthesizer male-vocal bands like this and this, here comes this song with an amazingly fresh sound. It stood out big time, and the video which hit MTV, and its newer sister channel, VH-1, still in its first year (and yes, at one time it played music videos, too!) was a huge plus.

Within months, Miami Sound Machine was huge, Gloria Estefan became a household name, and it all began with today's song.

Amazingly, as much as I liked several Estefan songs, this is her lone appearance in the Rob Witham 500. Songs like "Words Get In The Way" with MSM, and solo hits like "Anything For You" and "Higher" just missed the cut. I'm telling you, shaving down a master list to 500 songs was not easy.  :)